Understanding the spread of antibiotic resistant pathogens in hospitals: Mathematical models as tools for control

As microorganisms become more resistant to antimicrobial agents, effective infection control measures will become increasingly important. However, des pite multiple studies on infection prevention, few data exist on the quanti tative effects of the individual aspects of infection control strategies. T he combination of epidemiologic surveillance, molecular genotyping, observa tional studies on compliance, and mathematical modeling may improve our abi lity to determine the quantitative effects of individual infection control measures. This may help to design more effective infection control programs . In this study, we review several of the models that have been published a nd speculate on the usefulness of mathematical modeling for improving the p revention of infection.